Nigeria blocking repatriation of $450m foreign airline revenue, IATA says

Nigeria is withholding $450m in revenue international carriers operating in the country have earned, an executive at the world’s largest airlines association said Sunday. Africa’s largest economy has restricted access to foreign currency for imports and for investors seeking to repatriate their profits as the nation tackles a severe dollar shortage. The IATA’s Vice President for Africa and the Middle East, Kamal Al Awadhi, described talks with Nigerian officials to release the funds as a “hectic ride”. “We keep chipping away and hoping that it clicks that this is going to going to damage the country down the road,” he told reporters in Doha on the eve of IATA’s annual meeting of airline chiefs there this week. Al Awadhi, a former CE of Kuwait Airways, said Nigerian officials had blamed the foreign currency shortage for not repatriating the airline revenue. The Central Bank spokesperson in Nigeria did not immediately respond to a request for comment.<br/>